About MarketingExperiments Blog

MarketingExperiments was the first internet based research lab to conduct experiments in optimizing marketing and sales processes. Our research team has developed the world’s largest collection of optimization-related experiments and case studies, which is disseminated (free) via the MarketingExperiments Journal and www.marketingexperiments.com. The MarketingExperiments Blog complements our research with additional news, insights, analysis and interviews from our team. It also provides another venue to exchange ideas with our community of marketing, optimization and sales professionals. We invite you to comment on and share blog posts, as well as the blog itself, and play an active role in our shared mission to “discover what really works” in optimization.

If you are interested in contributing to the MarketingExperiments blog, consider joining our team. Please review career opportunities here.

The MarketingExperiments Bloggers

		Daniel Burstein, Director of Editorial Content Dan oversees all editorial content coming from the MarketingExperiments and MarketingSherpa brands – helping our team of reporters dig for actionable information while serving as an advocate for the audience. Previously, he was the main writer powering MarketingExperiments publishing engine – from Web clinics to Research Journals to the blog. Prior to joining the team, Dan was Vice President of MindPulse Communications – a boutique communications consultancy specializing in IT clients such as IBM, VMware, and BEA Systems. Dan has ten years of experience in copywriting, editing, internal communications, sales enablement, and marketing communications. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Gaby Paez, Associate Director of Research, Conversion Group Gaby’s passion is to bring new perspectives to testing by analyzing customer behavior. Gaby joined MarketingExperiments as Research Analyst in October 2006. Since then, she has led research projects with partners ranging from Encyclopedia Britannica and The New York Times to ActualMe and Bottega Verde. Before joining MarketingExperiments, Gaby worked on new media opportunities for The PGA TOUR, coordinated customer loyalty program research for Lands’ End, and managed Internet projects for British American Tobacco in Venezuela. She holds a B.S. in Systems Engineering from Universidad Metropolitana in Venezuela, and an MBA in Marketing from Vanderbilt University. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		J. David Green, Director of Best Practices, Applied Research J. David Green has over 25 years of experience in all aspects of lead generation in a career that included roles as CEO of PipeAlign, a B2B sales and marketing consulting firm, and started with the Sales and Marketing Solutions business unit of D&B. In that time, Dave has worked for clients like Cisco, Microsoft, Symantec, Bank of America, Weyerhaeuser, ADP, Novell, Sprint-Nextel, and Qwest. For example, Dave wrote the business plan and helped secure the funding for an Avaya project that focused on demand generation and global lead management. He then helped recruit the staff and select the vendors that drove one billion dollars in pipeline in the first 20 months of operation. Dave has also written and spoken widely on all facets of lead generation. In 2004, he teamed with Michael Saylor to co-author The B2B Refinery®, a book about scalable lead generation. Blog Posts | Twitter
		Scott Howard, Executive Director of Operations Scott is the man that keeps the trains running on time for all research projects in the laboratory. Before joining MarketingExperiments in May 2008, Scott was the Vice President and Head of Pre-Settlement Operations for Macquarie Bank and has held operational leadership roles for other financial industry firms such as Countrywide Home Loans, PHH Mortgage, and Merrill Lynch. Scott holds a degree from the highly ranked Department of Economics at Indiana University in Bloomington. In his free time, he uses his operational expertise to teach 11-year-olds the mechanics of the 6-4-3 double play. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Bob Kemper, Senior Director of Sciences As Director of Sciences for MarketingExperiments’ parent company, the MECLABS Group, Bob manages enterprise experimentation and discovery processes for the corporation and for the individual operating companies, including MarketingSherpa. He serves on the Curriculum and Alumni boards for the Executive MBA program of the Davis College of Business at Jacksonville University, and on the board of the Jacksonville chapter of the National Association of Business Economists (NABE). Over the last 25 years, Bob has practiced and managed engineering and business operations in companies ranging in size from 12 to 55,000 employees, and served as Manager of Technology Planning & Asset Management, Director of Finance, and Chief of Operations. Among his personal interests, he lists tennis, gymnastics, and applied statistics. Blog Posts
		David Kirkpatrick, Reporter David is a reporter for MarketingSherpa and has over twenty years of experience in business journalism, marketing and corporate communications. His published work includes newspaper, magazine and online journalism; website content; full-length ghosted nonfiction; marketing content; and short fiction. He served as producer for the business research horizontal at the original Office.com, regularly reporting on the world of marketing; covered a beat for D/FW TechBiz, a member of the American City Business Journals family; and he provided daily reporting for multiple LocalBusiness.com cities. David’s other media and corporate clients include: USA Today, Oxford Intelligence, GMAC, AOL, Business Development Outlook and C-Level Media, among many others. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Adam Lapp, Associate Director, Optimization and Strategy, Conversion Group Adam joined MarketingExperiments as a Research Analyst in September 2006. Prior to that, he attended the Masters program at the University of North Florida in the department of Literature. While at MarketingExperiments, Adam has filled several roles such as research project manager, writer, and paid search manager. Adam specializes in website optimization, usability, SEO, Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer, and social media. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Austin McCraw, Content Production Manager From web clinics to certification courses, Austin works behind the scenes to bring our research analysts’ discoveries to our audience in clear and creative ways. Before joining MarketingExperiments, Austin was the Promotions Director for a PBS affiliate in Gainesville where he was in charge of publicizing local and national programming. A graduate of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, Austin specializes in new media and video production by day and producing family memories with his wife and two children by night. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Jon Powell, Senior Manager, Research and Strategy Jon mostly works with financial industry research partners and is well respected around the lab for his keen test planning and scheduling abilities. Before joining MarketingExperiments in April 2007, Jon managed relationships with advertisers and supporters in publications like Massage magazine and Chiropractic Economics. He holds a BA in Integrated Marketing Communications from Wichita State University and when not managing research partnerships, Jon spends his free time leading the nonprofit FIBC Traditional Taekwondo school. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Adam T. Sutton, Senior Reporter, MarketingSherpa Adam generates content for MarketingSherpa’s Email and Inbound Marketing newsletters. His years of experience in interviewing marketers and conveying their insights has spanned topics such as search marketing, social media marketing, ecommerce, email and more. Adam previously powered the content behind MarketingSherpa’s Search and Consumer-marketing newsletters and carries that experience into his new role. Today, in addition to writing articles, he contributes content to the MarketingExperiments and MarketingSherpa blogs, as well as MECLABS webinars, workshops and summits.Prior to joining MarketingSherpa, Adam was the Managing Editor at the Mequoda group. There he created content and promotions for the company’s daily email newsletter and managed its schedule. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Nathan Thompson, Senior Manager, Research & Strategy As the lead analyst for the Research Partnership with a large financial institution, Nathan is adept at generating greater ROI from already high-performing websites and email marketing for enterprise-size marketers. But in his previous role as the Director of Online Sales for venture-backed Internet music startup Grooveshark.com, he also learned how to craft effective online marketing for startup companies where the potential is far greater than the marketing budget. With a B.S. in Public Relations and Entrepreneurship from the University of Florida, Nathan has a sense for not only how to run a successful business but how to let everyone know you’re running a successful business. Like all good Web marketers, he asks that you look out for his book as soon as he gets around to writing one. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile | Twitter
		Gina Townsend, Director of Operations, Conversion Group At MarketingExperiments, Gina leads a team of research analysts that have driven double-digit ROI gains for e-commerce and financial industry Research Partners. Before joining MarketingExperiments in June 2006, she ran the creative team at SECURE-RES (now Vizergy), an internet marketing firm that specializes in hotels and resorts. After graduating from Flagler College with a B.A. in Communications, she began her career at direct marketing company Harte-Hanks, where she managed enterprise accounts in the financial, automotive, and insurance industries. When she’s not rebuilding websites for maximum results, she’s renovating her home at the beach. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Spencer Whiting, Research Analyst Spencer brings his extensive experience in small business, sales, marketing, and start up management to MarketingExperiments. He has been involved with five startups as a senior employee and has four years of small business turn around consulting experience in businesses spanning the hospitality, B2B and non-profit sectors. His creativity and understanding of what it takes to succeed in business today benefits our Research Partners by helping to create real-world solutions to achieve success. He is fascinated by the opportunities presented by the Internet to change business in a profound way. His passions in life are his wife, Snowden, ballroom dancing, the Boston sports scene, and sailing. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile
		Zuzia Soldenhoff-Thorpe, Research Manager Zuzia has experience in almost every aspect of selling a product, including social media advertising, SEO, TV production, public relations, and event coordination. Before joining MECLABS as a Research Analyst, she managed advertising campaigns and organized events for clients like Microsoft, Volvo, MTV, Coca-Cola, the United States Department of Education, Nickelodeon and Red Bull. Born and raised in Poland, Zuzia has her Masters in Marketing and Management from the University of Gdansk. When not traveling across the Web for Research Partners, she enjoys exotic and extreme travel including climbing in the Himalayas and practicing yoga with monks in Myanmar. Blog Posts | LinkedIn | Twitter
		Brad Bortone, Senior Research Editor Brad Bortone is a writer and editor for MarketingSherpa, and brings more than ten years of journalism experience to the table. He is experienced in both corporate and nonprofit copywriting, having published work with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, The New York City Department of Education, The National Academy of Sciences and the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation. Additionally, Brad’s freelance writing has been featured in a wide array of print and online outlets, including The Newark Star-Ledger, ESPN: The Magazine and CNN.com. Blog Posts | LinkedIn | Twitter
		Kaci Bower, Research Analyst, MarketingSherpa Her research area is Search Marketing where she is responsible for compiling benchmark data and insights that can be used to guide marketers’ strategic decisions and tactical planning. Prior to this, she spent a large portion of her career in the telecom industry in roles spanning strategic planning to web marketing. As a web marketer, she paid (willingly) with sweat and tears for her online marketing experience as the Manager of Web Content Development and Web Marketing for Verizon’s small business and medium business customer segments. Kaci also continues to moonlight as an independent consultant to non-profits and small businesses by helping them develop and execute growth strategies in a creative, cost-controlled and resource-efficient manner. She holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University. Blog Posts | LinkedIn | Twitter
		Paul Cheney, Editorial Analyst Paul helps turn raw research into easy-to-understand content for MarketingExperiments readers. He earned his BA in English Literature from Covenant College. Before joining the MarketingExperiments team, Paul wrote grant proposals and fundraising letters for a mid-size nonprofit in New Jersey. He has also worked as a freelance Internet marketing consultant and copywriter for small businesses. In his spare time, Paul enjoys reading, writing poems, and dating his wife, Callie. Blog Posts | LinkedIn | Twitter
		Selena Blue, Junior Copy Editor As part of Primary Research, Selena edits copy on everything from blogs to benchmark reports. Before joining MECLABS, she worked in two nonprofits, writing and editing communications, planning events and developing media databases. She also did freelance work as a copywriter.  She holds a BS in Communications and a MS in Integrated Marketing and Management Communications, both from Florida State University. Outside of work, Selena enjoys reading, waterskiing and volunteering.Blog Posts  | LinkedIn |  Twitter
		Diana Sindicich, Data Analyst, Sciences Group Diana assists researchers from all sections of MECLABS with the design and administration of meaningful research studies and web page tests. Before joining MECLABS, she served as an Assistant Professor of Apparel, Textiles and Interior Design at Kansas State University. With varied interests spanning both the scientific and the creative ends of the spectrum, her past research has focused on consumer viewpoints of garment sizing, using survey methods and emerging technologies such as CAD software and 3D body scanners to isolate areas of opportunity for apparel manufacturers. At Kansas State she also worked on a Marine Corps interdisciplinary research team at the Institute for Environmental Research alongside mechanical engineers, computer scientists and textile technologists to generate a finite element model of the clothed soldier. Her research has been published in peer reviewed journals and presented at conferences across the country. Diana holds a PhD in Textiles and Consumer Sciences from Florida State University. When she is not assisting researchers, she enjoys playing with her daughter, helping out in her husband’s comic book store, singing classical and jazz, playing the piano and creating one of a kind fashions for her friends and family.Blog Posts  | LinkedIn |  Twitter
		Dr. Chuck Coker, Human Capital Strategist, MECLABS Since 2006, Chuck has driven the growth of MECLABS through acquisition, recruitment and retention of high-value employees. Prior to his work with MECLABS, Chuck guided companies like AT&T, General Foods, Harris Corporation, Sprint PCS, Tupperware, Verizon and Zurich in the development of Human Capital Management. His approach has revitalized organizations from the front door to the executive suites. He is the past Chair of the President’s Council of the National Speaker’s Association, and has taught on four continents at universities like Auburn, Harvard, Westminster and Moscow State. He holds the title of Senior Professional in Human Resources. His education includes both doctoral and bachelor’s degrees. Blog Posts | LinkedIn Profile

Several other MarketingExperiments Team members, present and retired, also contribute to this blog, including: David Meerman Scott, Joelle Parra, Heather Andruk, Hunter Boyle, Greg Burningham, Paul Clowe, Adam Davis, Peg Davis, Jimmy Ellis, Anna Jacobson, Pamela Markey, Andy Mott, Aaron Rosenthal, Arturo Silva, Corey Trent, Nick Usborne and Dustin Eichholt.